


The Super-Switch

by serenawitchwriter



Category: DCU, Danny Phantom, Superman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Bodyswap, Crossover, DPJL, Gen, because he's more complex and interesting, even though he's a dick, i guess this is the yj superman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-09 13:20:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14716836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenawitchwriter/pseuds/serenawitchwriter
Summary: Superman makes the mistake of saying the words i wish around a certain ghost, now he's gonna learn being a teenage superhero isn't as easy as he remembers





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> me: i should publish a chapter of my main focus fic today  
> me: *hasn't finished the chapter*  
> me: whelp better just post something i wrote months ago on a different platform

Superman and Danny Phantom had faced their fair share of magic shenanigans in their careers. This wasn’t even their first time switching bodies with another person. Body swaps were an all too common occurrence in the superhero community these days.

 

Still to say that they were ready to switch places with each other would be a lie.

 

It all started with an off-handed comment. The two heroes were attending a League meeting in the Justice League head quarters and when it became relevant Batman mentioned Phantom’s previous ‘crimes’. It was common knowledge at that point that Phantom was wrongly accused and had been cleared by the government for his charges, but his reputation as a villain and a menace still limited his mobility and caused tension with the public.

 

Superman had simply commented that if Danny put more of an effort into his public appearance and destroyed less property, it wouldn’t be a problem.

 

Danny sarcastically replied that not everyone can be their own publicist and a mild argument was started.

 

Neither were overly angry at the other. Danny just didn’t like having his problems thrown in his face when he’s doing everything he could to deal with them. He wasn’t perfect and he knew he wasn’t perfect, so having actual Mr. Perfect call him out on his flaws was completely obnoxious. Superman in turn, felt Phantom wasn’t taking his responsibilities seriously enough. If he was really doing everything he could than certainly the public would see that work and appreciate him more.

 

The argument followed them onto a mission. To those watching it was almost like watching an argument between a father in a son, Superman preaching and nagging Danny to be more responsible, Phantom responding with a steady stream of sarcasm and irritation.

 

They got the job done, but by the end of it both were fuming and yelling until finally Superman spoke the words:

 

“I wish I had things as easy as you!”

 

And a voice responded, 

 

“So you have wished it,  ** _so shall it be!”_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> misses a deadline yet again. in my defense my medicine is making me sleep twelve to nineteen hours a day. i am trying

The blast of the spell knocked Phantom and Superman off their feet. having their spirits pulled out of there body and replaced was nor painless after all and it took a long moment for them wake and begin to take stock of their surroundings.

The first thing Superman noticed was that he was physically exhausted. It was the kind of heavy tiredness that he only felt when flying at his highest speed, after a difficult battle. he knew immediately that something was very wrong.

When he opened his eyes it was to his hands gloved in white and glowing slightly.

across from him crouched and swearing quietly to himself was… Superman.

Superman sat up immediately more awake. That wasn’t him, that was some kind of doppelganger. He had to act quickly before the villain could get his barring.

He flew to his feet and raised a fist only to flinch when said fist lit up with a glowing greed light. “W-what!?”

“Clark!” the Superman double gasped. “Look it’s not what you think. it’s me Phantom, we switched places.”

Superman narrowed his eyes. “And how do I know your telling the truth?”

The double rolled his eyes and crossed his hands over his chest looking insolent. “Oh gee, the fact that you now look like me and have my powers isn’t a big enough tip off? I also called you by your civilian name accidentally just now, what else do you want me to do? We’re not close enough to have any good ‘Only the real Danny would know questions.”

“What is Phantom’s greatest weapon?” Superman asked, thinking of the ghost’s sonic scream.

“My friends,” the double said instead, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world. “Now we need to hurry before she gets away.”

“Until who gets away?” Superman asked, still not trusting what he was looking at,

“Desiree, the villain that did this.” the Super-double jumped into the air, shooting further than he apparently intended. “Oh jeez, need to celebrate the difference in our powers, huh. This is weird and all your fault by the way.”

“My fault?” Superman gasped, also flying into the air and having similar trouble. It was like he was totally weightless.

“Yeah,” the double said putting his hands on his hips “You used the taboo phrase ‘i wish’ in front of a ghost that grants them as detrimentally and as literally as possible. Everyone knows you don’t make wishes. It’s common sense.”

“You can’t demand that people stop making wishes because of one bad villain,” Superman gasped, starting to believe that the double really was Phantom if only for the attitude.

Phantom rolled his eyes again. “Well, it’s more effective than having chaos ensue every time you say it. Desiree is usually pretty localized at least. She must have been following me to see if there were any wishes she could used to distract me today. Looks like it worked. She’s probably long gone, causing chaos somewhere else in the city.’

“Can’t you hear her?” Superman frowned, only now noticing how abnormally quiet the world has been since switched.

The Superman/Phantoms eye twitched. “I can hear everything, actually, I don’t know how you put up with all this noise. It’s top discordant. I can't tell one bit of chaos from the next."

“Well, than what do you think we should do?” Superman asked uneasily.

“Go to where the chaos is the strongest.”

“I don’t think so.” and the swapped heroes turned to find Batman and the other league members glaring at them with disapproval. “You two aren’t going anywhere in each others bodies until, you’ve proven, you can control each others powers. We’re not risk you accidentally destroying a city because you were too reckless. You’re under official house arrest.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> being batman isn't easy

Being the most responsible member of the Justice League was exhausting.

Take today for instance, Batman had thankfully stopped the potential catastrophe that was two insanely powerful individuals incapable of controlling their newly acquired powers charging into battle. Superman and Phantom switching places was hedging on disaster even now, because despite the quality of their character, they both were powerful enough to destroy the world, especially if a fight between them were to escalate too far.

Batman, ever cautious has been putting counter measures for the possibility in place for years and honestly he was grateful that he hasn't had to use them yet. Both heroes were cooperative and despite some sharp barbs at each other and general frustration at the circumstance, they weren’t attacking each other.

However, that did not make the situation any easier. Batman would always be thankful that things haven’t reached the worst case scenario but that didn’t change the fact that bad is bad.

They had returned to the space station and the secure training facility within it. They had started to put together the groundwork of a plan and meanwhile Phantom and Superman were trying to adapt to their current bodies.

The plan was simple enough. The Flash, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Hawk Woman would be pursuing the ghost that had performed the switch. Batman had already acquired a military stock of Fenton technology so they were well armed and Phantom's profile on the ghost was impressively detailed. Though there was some humor to be found in the caps lettered “DON’T MAKE WISHES OR SAY THE WORDS I WANT OR I WISH IN HER PRESENCE OR AT ALL!” The warning was reiterated several times throughout the profile and clarified she’ll grant the wish even when you can’t see her.

Phantom and Superman were, for their part, anxious about leaving the hunting to others. Phantom especially holding a sense of responsibility because ghost hunting is his department. Superman was insisting on his own involvement because a slight sense of guilt over making the wish. Batman and several other members of the League had backed Phantom up and chastised the hero for his loose phrasing an use of the taboo phrase. Phantom wasn’t the only hero with a rule against wishing.

Batman had made it perfectly clear that until they could control each others powers they were liabilities. A point that was emphasized when Superman, in Danny’s body, began to slip intangibly through the floor.

Which was how they got this point. Training their deadly and highly destructive powers.

“Look you just gotta feel solid. Like continuously be aware that you can touch stuff.”

“That’s what I’m doing!”

“No, I mean you gotta keep that awareness. Like…” Phantom scrunched Superman’s eyebrows together as searched for the right words. “It’s kinda like breathing, you know? Most of the time you aren’t aware of your breathing, you just let your lungs do their thing. Intangibility is a ghosts natural instinct/state, so to be solid you have to actively think about being solid, like when you’re suddenly aware of you own breathing and have to work to do it.”

“How can you continuously be aware that you’re solid all the time,” the Phantom double growled sounding frustrated. He was once again slipping through the floor and 'Superman' pulled him back up by the elbow.

“Well, I’m not, exactly. Eventually the solid-intangible switch just became a sort of muscle memory thing. Most of the time awareness of my solidness is just floating somewhere at the back or my mind, just always running. Letting go of the awareness to become intangible is actually weird because like you have to try not to be aware of it anymore. It kinda sucks, because I’ve gotten so used to being tangible that I sometimes completely forget to turn intangible when I actually need to. It’s confusing.”

“I agree.” Superman said glaring tiredly up at his own face. It was fascinating to watch the differences in expressions. Watching superman’s body act like an earnest but typical teenager was rather cute. Phantom's sarcasm and sharp smirks looking out of place and dangerous on the normally kind or brooding face but he brought an energy and expressiveness that superman often lacked. He talked with his hands and showed off his small ticks. Seeing ‘Superman’ nervously rub the back of his neck and tilt his head to the side with a shy smile, was a memory that Batman would keep tucked away amidst his fondest memories.

Meanwhile Superman’s good posture and kind smile softened the ghosts image considerably. Gone was the tricksters glint and in it’s place was a bright-eyed child. Batman had never acknowledge how cynical Phantom was in comparison to Superman, but to see his face free of it was a startling revelation. Phantom looked younger with Superman controlling him. He moved with confidence and his neon green eyes sparkled with optimism. It was nice to see but carried with it the slight disappointment that Phantom himself couldn’t produce such a smile on his own.

“Maybe, it’s kind of like with your super strength?” Phantom wondered. He was proving entirely more adaptive to Superman’s powers that Superman was to his. He still proved to be clumsy when it came to the finer adjustments of strengths and applications, but he had mastered flying with the newly weighted body and powers like heat vision and cryokinesis were practically instinctive to him. The only real problem he had was focusing with Superman’s enhanced hearing, providing a constant din and distraction. “Like you have to be consciously aware of your movements and strength so you don’t accidentally destroy everything, right? Well, treat it like that only instead of strength it’s how solid you are.”

“Adjusting how lightly you touch something is completely different from being constantly aware of your own breathing.” Superman griped abnormally irritable.

He was having a considerably harder time mastering Phantom’s powers. They’d been working on tangibility on in off for the last couple hours because it was apparently the most important skill in terms of functioning normally. Superman seemed to be slipping through the floor and dropping objects every other minute and Phantom seemed to be silently laughing even as he tried to help. It was clear that Phantom had dealt with this problem in the past.

When they weren’t struggling with that, they were struggling with the other basic powers. Like Danny, Superman picked up flight rather easily. But manipulating ecto-energy and all the powers that depended on drawing from his ghost core was escaping Superman’s grasp. The way Phantom described reaching for his core seemed rather meditative and simple to Batman, but then again Batman wasn’t the one with the powers so he wasn’t in the position to judge.

Phantom refused to show Superman his more powerful attacks, claiming, “If you can’t even make an ectoblast you wouldn’t be able to perform a ghostly wail. Most of the bigger attacks aren't really things you can do accidentally. So as long as you don’t feel like your freezing to death you should be fine.”

It wasn’t the most comforting statement but Batman preferred that they didn’t test those powers here anyway. There was no telling what a ghostly wail would do to the ship, especially because Superman would have no control over it. They’d have to travel back to earth to do it and as late in the evening it was getting, returning to earth that day for a non emergency seemed too exhausting.

Speaking of which, “I think it’s about time for bed,” Batman called to the heroes. Phantom flinched and the sheepish look on ‘Superman’s’ face, yet again, melted his cold black heart.

Both were obviously exhausted so they didn’t argue about that, though Superman did mutter. “If I have to be thinking about solidness, what happens if I turn intangible in my sleep?”

“It’s easier not to go to bed tangible at all. Just lie above the bed and float intangibly there. You’re less likely to move from there than if you turn intangible mid dream. If you do that I guarantee that you’ll fall through through the floor.”

“It was a rhetorical question.”

Batman rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was going to be a long weekend.

Here’s hoping they’re back to normal tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my dp tumblr: https://dannyphantom-justiceleauge.tumblr.com/
> 
> my discord: https://discord.gg/mkaewdq

**Author's Note:**

> did you know that i'm Hestia on https://dannyphantom-justiceleauge.tumblr.com/ ? it's a blog dedicated to danny phantom existing in the dc universe, were really nerdy, so you should check us out. :)


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